East of the Cooper: Terrapin Station - Volunteer for a Different Kind of Turtle Watch, The Diamondback Terrapin Study

Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin).
Photo by Andrew Grosse - University of Georgia

There's something out there lurking, just beneath the surface, right at the juncture where salt and fresh waters mingle. It's silent and it's deadly - for the salt marsh periwinkles, which would devastate vast expanses of the salt marsh without it's predation. It's powerful jaws snap periwinkle shells with ease. Between May and early August, it's eyes and snout periodically break the water's surface. You catch some bubbles and a small ripple and then there are several, bobbing like miniature buoys. Looking for that perfect someone.

It's Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) mating season in the salt marsh. The Diamondback is the only turtle species which inhabits the brackish mix of salt and fresh waters along the coast, from Cape Cod all the way down the Eastern Seaboard around Florida and into the Gulf. The terrapin, which is critical to maintaining a healthy balance in the salt marshes, is in trouble and Chrissie Lanzieri is out several days a week around Cape Romain, north of Awendaw to study its population and take stock on how terrapin population is fairing.

The terrapin was nearly hunted to extinction in the late 1800's and early 1900's. It was a coastal staple until its taste caught on in upper crust restaurants, primarily in the Northeast, after the Civil War and then it went from being a sustenance food for a coastal population to becoming a delicacy on the menu of exclusivity. The demand for Terrapin meat sent their populations plummeting. Successful efforts were made at breeding the terrapins in the1940's to help stabilize their population. Even as late as the 1970's, terrapin was served at the Nixon White House. As scientists began to realize the crucial role the turtle plays in maintaining the balance of the salt marsh, pressures grew to add more protections for the Diamondback. The terrapins gradually disembarked from the menus of restaurants. The last restaurant serving it, in Baltimore, MD, dropped it from the menu in the 1990's.

Fishermen continue to report fewer and fewer Diamondback sightings in the wild. The terrapin's prime nemesis now are Crab Traps, functional and abandoned ones, which often ensnare the turtles. The smaller males and juveniles are particularly vulnerable for being trapped and then drowning. Terrapins have to surface regularly and breathe air to live.

Diamondback Terrapins during Mating Season.

Crab traps don't have to be their downfall, a simple plastic ring or bycatch reduction device (BRD) will allow for the turtles' escape, while still ensnaring the Blue and Stone Crabs. All that's lacking in the prevention of more accidental terrapin deaths, is a public awareness and a few minutes making every crab trap easy for turtles to escape. Traps can be purchased which have built in bycatch devices. Capt. Mike Able of Haddrell's Point Tackle in Mt. Pleasant (intersection of Coleman Blvd. & Chuck Dawley) has traps and the plastic escape rings for installation in existing crab traps.

Minks, Ghost Crabs and raccoons also add to terrapin mortality. It takes two - three years for a male Diamondback to become sexually viable and six - seven years for a female. Due to predation, and much like sea turtles, only a small percentage of the terrapins make it to maturity.